Official PA TV program The Philosophy of Patience, on PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ recollections from the PA terror campaign (the second Intifada, 2000-2005), aired March 23, 2018, rebroadcast April 2, 2018

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “After the second Intifada broke out due to Sharon’s visit, I was with [then PA Chairman] brother Yasser Arafat and [PLO Chief Negotiator] Saeb Erekat in a plane... From the third day I said to him: ‘Yasser Arafat, this intifada must stop, because it’s a snowball that you don’t know where it will roll.’ Yasser Arafat heard me and heard the others, and he didn’t have to pay attention to my words. He waited, he thought, and they made him understand that it’s possible that things will develop and we will achieve something. My opinion was that we wouldn’t achieve anything, and it was a disaster that ended with the Martyrdom-death (Istish’had) of Yasser Arafat. It ended with the occupation of the entire West Bank and the destruction of all the agreements that were signed between us and Israel, and we are still suffering from this to this day.”
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Official PA TV host: “I’m returning with you, [Fatah Movement Spokesman] Dr. Osama Al-Qawasmi, to the history of Yasser Arafat.... At the time of the self-sacrificing operations and armed struggle, Yasser Arafat and the Fatah Movement were at the head of the self-sacrificing operations that dealt with military activity on the ground. And when the time for policy came, Yasser Arafat excelled in this path as well, and it may be that he achieved more from it than was achieved in the military activity. [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas is continuing the diplomatic political activity, embarrassing Israel in the halls of the UN, and achieving the [fitting] status for Palestine.”

Fatah Movement Spokesman and Fatah Revolutionary Council member Osama Al-Qawasmi: “Certainly, when Fatah was established at the beginning of January 1965 relying on armed struggle, it did [not] think that armed struggle was the goal, but rather that the rifle was a means, and that this is a legitimate right for all of the peoples who are bowing under occupation. There was a disagreement in the [Fatah] Central Committee... President Mahmoud Abbas supported armed struggle because they wanted to let the world hear the complaint of the Palestinian people through the rifle, bomb, and battles… The wars have changed. Today we rely on the popular resistance and building the institutions, [but] we have not given up the option of the rifle at all, but because we have a goal – and the means need to serve the political goal – we rely on the popular resistance, national unity, strengthening of the Palestinian people’s resolve, and building of the institutions..."

“’If the Elder (i.e., Yasser Arafat) had been alive, the Arab and international media would be loud and raging from the pictures of violation and crime carried out against the boy Ahmad Manasrah (i.e., young Palestinian terrorist who stabbed two and was shot by Israeli security), as he [Arafat] was not just a president, but a media person who knew how to harness the media to the cause’ – this is the essence of the matters about which the media people and officials who worked with the late President Yasser Arafat unanimously agreed.

Media person Fathi Al-Barqawi said: ‘He [Arafat] appreciated the media and knew how to use it. He read and followed every detail, and instructed officials around him to draw public attention in favor of the Palestinian cause. Therefore, a humanitarian matter such as the case of Ahmad Manasrah would have been turned into a matter of international opinion, due to his media skills and connections throughout the world.’

"Faris Ouda left home with a slingshot, having made a wreath with his picture, and writing: 'The Brave Shahid Faris Ouda'."
He said to his mother, "Don't worry, mother, Shahada (Martyrdom) is sweet.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 30, 2000; Feb. 3, 2001]

Yasser Arafat, in a speech to children:
"We are saluting the spirit of our hero Shahid, Faris Ouda! Faris Ouda! Faris Ouda! We are proud of you [youth] who represent the steadfastness and the sacrifice of your companion, the hero Shahid, Faris Ouda! Oh, children of Palestine! The peers, friends, brothers and sisters of Faris Ouda."
[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 4, 2003, July 22, 2003, Aug. 18, 2002]Click here to view
Note: Faris Ouda is a 14 year-old who prepared his own memorial before going off to become a Shahid.

Interviewer: "Mr. President, what message would you like to send to the Palestinian people, in general, and in particular to the Palestinian children?"
Arafat: "This child, who is grasping the stone, facing the tank – is it not the greatest message to the world when that hero becomes a Shahid? We are proud of them."Click here to view

“[Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas] Zaki noted the pressure applied by the US against the late leader Yasser Arafat in order to harm his determination and make him concede to the Zionist project; however Arafat returned to the homeland in order to complete the path under the slogan ‘Millions of Martyrs (Shahids) are marching to Jerusalem.’”

Headline: “The Palestinian-Israeli ‎Negotiations: The Essence of the Solution,” ‎by Adel Abd Al-Rahman, columnist for ‎official PA daily
‎“The occupation forces have turned to ‎the ‘revolving door’ policy,” the policy that ‎Martyr (Shahid) Yasser Arafat established ‎the other way around, when, under the ‎pressure of security coordination with ‎Israel, he arrested Palestinian fighters and ‎released them soon after. For whenever ‎they [Israel] free prisoners, after much effort ‎‎[on our part], they come back soon and ‎arrest them again, one after the other, ‎along with hundreds of others. ‎Furthermore, they are now turning to [the ‎policy of] killing some of them with the ‎excuse that they were resisting arrest.‎
The world convened the ‘Geneva 1’ ‎international convention over Syria… and ‎why shouldn’t the Palestinians have their ‎own ‘Geneva’? ... Yet turning to the UN or ‎convening a ‘Palestinian Geneva’ does not ‎mean giving up the program of struggle for ‎the land through popular resistance – ‎‎[resistance which is,] at this stage, ‎peaceful, but which leaves the path open ‎for the various [other] forms of resistance in ‎the future. For whatever is not achieved by ‎peaceful means will be achieved by other ‎means.”‎

Arafat's bodyguard Muhammad Dayeh: I suckled love for Arafat from my mother's milk. We love Arafat passionately. TV host: [Former Israeli PM Ariel] Sharon called Arafat a pathological liar, and many politicians who knew Arafat say he excelled at lying.Bodyguard: [Our] religion permits lying in three cases: to settle between two people - religion allows you [to lie] in order to settle between two people.TV host: For reconciliation.Bodyguard: Someone whose wife isn't pretty, [can] say, 'You're the most beautiful woman in the world'; and the third [case] is in politics - you can lie.TV host: Do you agree with this?Bodyguard: Yes, yes.TV host: He would lie in front of you.Bodyguard: Yes. Arafat, yes. For example, whenever an operation (i.e., terror attack) was carried out in Tel Aviv, Arafat would go out and say [he condemned it] - of course, after pressure. First and foremost [from Egyptian] President Mubarak. He would call brother Arafat and tell him: "Brother Arafat, go and condemn it, they'll screw you." [Arafat] would tell him: "But Mr. President, I have Martyrs - they [Israel] destroyed us, they massacred us." [Mubarak] would tell him: "Brother Arafat, go and condemn [it]. They'll screw you." Brother Arafat would go and condemn it in his special way: I am against killing civilians - and that wasn't true.Click to view videoClick to view bulletin